Life After Carbs

A real person eating (mostly) real food

Fiber makes Brussels sprouts low-carb

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Brussels sprouts, those cute little mini-cabbages named after a Belgium city, are one of the higher carb vegetables that I regularly eat. One cup of plain cooked Brussels sprouts will set you back about 11 grams of carbohydrates, and 4 grams of protein. All that, and you only get 55 or 56 calories of energy.  That means a lot of us will be inclined to eat more than a cup. I probably eat between a cup-and-a-half and two cups at a time. As with other green vegetables, there is little fat … [Read more...]

This week’s nuggets: June 6 -10, 2017

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It was touch and go, but I managed my usual three podcasts this week for The Low Carb Nugget. The problem was a bad cold that affected my voice -- and not for the better. Luckily, it's a recorded show, so I could cut out fits of coughing. #13 Historical interlude: K-rations, sugar, and cigarettes On the 73rd anniversary of the Invasion of Normandy, Jim takes a look at the field rations American soldiers carried with them into combat. The ingredients were as much about boosting morale as … [Read more...]

DNA, diet, and weight

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Can spitting into a test-tube tell you which diet is best for you? Earlier this year, Anita and I each sent in a sample of our saliva to 23 and Me, a company that does commercial genetic testing.  I'm not plugging the service, and this is not intended to be a full-scale review. But some of our DNA test results are relevant to the topic of diet. We both opted to receive ancestry and health-related reports of our DNA. At first, I was only going to get the ancestry report, but changed my mind … [Read more...]

What about dietary fat and fatty liver disease?

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A while ago, I published my annual blood test results for the last seven years.  In terms of cardiovascular indicators, the tests were good. I did a little victory lap, celebrating (1) that I was still alive and (2) that the test results showed my LCHF diet seems to be doing me more good than harm. Then I heard something that gave me pause. It wasn't about heart health or clogged arteries. It was about fatty livers. I heard the claim in a podcast, the Tim Ferriss Show for May 12, 2017. … [Read more...]

Presenting The Best of Life after Carbs

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Available across the Web! My ebook, The Best of Life after Carbs, is now in wider release. You can find it at multiple online stores: Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo. Just click this Universal Book Link, and then select your favorite store. The book is part memoir, part how-to. The 30+ chapters in the book are based on posts from this blog. Yes, you could read them all here for free, in some form. But if you enjoy ebooks, and want to support my efforts, here's your chance to do us … [Read more...]

Mindful eating: slow down and smell the pork chop

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On Episode 6 of The Low Carb Nugget podcast, Jim examines the conflict between "grabbing a bite" and "mindful eating." There's an expression in American English, an idiom, "to grab a bite." Some variations include "grab a bite to eat," "grab something to eat" or just "get a bite." I haven't done extensive research on this idiom, but what I have done suggests it is, indeed, of American origin. That makes sense. The idiom perfectly suits the American mind-set. It turns getting a meal into a … [Read more...]

Study: low-carb diet reduces food cravings

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A study in The FASEB Journal (which, as you probably know, well-read person that you are, is the Official Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology) finds that consuming a low-carb, high-fat diet is "associated with reductions in cravings for all food categories." The researchers define a craving as "an intense desire to consume a particular food that is difficult to resist." … [Read more...]

Announcing The Low Carb Nugget

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Are you sitting down? Good. I have stunning news. You can now listen to me go on about low-carb, high-fat eating and related issues on my very own podcast, The Low Carb Nugget. Yes, I'm charging madly into the 21st Century, and you can charge with me. In fact, it would be good if you got a little out in front. Three days a week, you can experience the voice that thrilled countless college students over a span of 30 years, often to the point that they passed out in class from sheer bliss. Or … [Read more...]

Recent studies are the cream in my coffee

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First, there came a big meta-analysis of thousands of scientific papers on the effects of caffeine on humans, which found that 3 or 4 cups of coffee a day (that is, a total of 400 mg of caffeine) probably won't hurt you. Unless you're pregnant, in which case you should drink less -- 2 or 3 cups  a day (300 mg of caffeine). If you're a kid, you shouldn't be drinking coffee at all, or any other highly caffeinated beverages. Given that I'm not (A) a child nor (B) with child, this study confirms … [Read more...]

Cauliflower: the better mashed potato

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You can do a lot of things with "cabbage flower" on a low-carb, high-fat (LCHF) diet: steam it, roast it, mash it, rice it, or just eat it raw. Of course, one drawback to raw veggies, including cauliflower, is that they're harder to fatten up that way. But a good, fatty dip will do the trick. I've never had cauliflower deep-fried or baked, but I suppose those are possibilities, too. I'm not sure what you'd bread it in, though -- crumbled pork rinds, perhaps? Oh -- you can also eat cauliflower … [Read more...]